Many thermal power plants in the Russian Federation withdraw water from reservoirs created by constructing containment dams to cool their main equipment. After the production cooling cycle, the water is discharged back into the reservoir. This raises the question: what is the status of the reservoir — is it a water body or a hydraulic structure?
Key Characteristics of a Water Body
First, in accordance with Clause 4, Article 1 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation [1], a water body is a natural or artificial body of water, watercourse, or other object where a permanent or temporary concentration of water has characteristic forms and features of a water regime.
Water regime refers to the change over time in the levels, flow, and volume of water in a water body (Clause 5, Article 1 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation).
According to Clause 3, Part 2, Article 5 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation, surface water bodies include, among others, bodies of water (lakes, ponds, flooded quarries, reservoirs).
Furthermore, according to Article 1 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" [2]:
Thus, bodies of water (ponds and reservoirs) as water bodies, representing concentrations of surface water, are also components of the natural environment.
As stated in Clause 1, Part 2, Article 11 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation, the right to use surface water bodies for the purpose of withdrawing (extracting) water resources from water bodies is acquired on the basis of water use agreements.
In accordance with Clause 2, Part 3, Article 11 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation, water bodies are provided for use for the discharge of wastewater on the basis of decisions on granting water bodies for use.
Second, in accordance with GOST 19179-73 [3]:
At the same time, in accordance with Part 1, Article 8 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation, water bodies are owned by the Russian Federation (federal property), except for cases established by Part 2 of this article.
Part 2, Article 8 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation states that a pond or a flooded quarry located within the boundaries of a land plot owned by a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, a municipality, a physical person, or a legal entity is owned respectively by the constituent entity of the Russian Federation, the municipality, the physical person, or the legal entity, unless otherwise established by federal laws.
Parts 2 and 3 of Article 11 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation provide that granting use on the basis of water use agreements or decisions on granting a water body for use is only provided for water bodies in federal ownership, ownership of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, or municipalities.
In accordance with Article 1 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation, a water user is a person who has been granted the right to use a water body.
Thus, if a water body (a pond or a flooded quarry) is located on a legal entity's own land, it is possible to provide a justification that this water body is the property of the legal entity, which, accordingly, is not obliged to obtain this water body for use on the basis of a decision or agreement and is not recognized as a water user.
At the same time, water bodies such as reservoirs do not belong to water bodies that can be owned by legal entities, as they are exclusively federal property.
Third, according to Part 1, Article 31 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation, the State Water Register (GVR) is a systematized collection of documented information about water bodies in federal ownership, ownership of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, ownership of municipalities, ownership of physical persons and legal entities, their use, river basins, and basin districts.
To summarize, if data on the reservoir being used is contained in the GVR, it is practically impossible to prove to the regulator that the reservoir used by the enterprise is not a water body.
Status of a Hydraulic Structure
Based on Article 3 of the Federal Law "On the Safety of Hydraulic Structures" [4], a hydraulic structure (GTS) includes dams, hydroelectric power station buildings, spillways, outlets and discharge structures, tunnels, canals, pumping stations, shipping locks, ship lifts; structures intended for protection against floods and the destruction of banks and bottoms of reservoirs and rivers; structures (dams) enclosing liquid waste storage facilities of industrial and agricultural organizations; devices against erosion on canals, as well as other structures, buildings, devices, and other objects intended for the use of water resources and the prevention of the negative impact of water and liquid waste, with the exception of facilities of centralized hot water supply, cold water supply, and (or) sanitation systems provided for by the Federal Law "On Water Supply and Sanitation" [5].
A structure is the result of construction, representing a volumetric, planar, or linear construction system having ground, above-ground, and (or) underground parts, consisting of load-bearing and, in some cases, enclosing construction structures and intended for performing various types of production processes, storing products, temporary stay of people, and the movement of people and goods (Clause 23, Part 2, Article 2 of the Federal Law "Technical Regulations on the Safety of Buildings and Structures" [6]).
Previously, in accordance with Clause 2.4 of the Instruction on the Procedure for Monitoring the Safety of Hydraulic Structures [7], industrial hydraulic structures, including process water storage facilities and technological reservoirs, were classified as safety monitoring objects, including:
However, this Instruction lost its force as of January 1, 2021, based on Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1086 [8].
There are currently no other regulatory legal acts indicating the classification of technological reservoirs as hydraulic structures, including recycled water supply systems.
Thus, at the moment, it is extremely difficult to prove to the regulator that a reservoir should be classified as a hydraulic structure.
Conclusion: Current regulatory legal framework classifies most reservoirs operated by thermal power plants as water bodies; therefore, the requirements of the Water Code of the Russian Federation apply to them.
[1] Water Code of the Russian Federation No. 74-FZ dated June 3, 2006
[2] Federal Law No. 7-FZ dated January 10, 2002 "On Environmental Protection"
[3] GOST 19179-73 "Land Hydrology. Terms and Definitions," approved by the Decree of the State Committee of Standards of the USSR Council of Ministers No. 2394 dated October 29, 1973.
[4] Federal Law No. 117-FZ dated July 21, 1997 "On the Safety of Hydraulic Structures"
[5] Federal Law No. 416-FZ dated December 7, 2011 "On Water Supply and Sanitation"
[6] Federal Law No. 384-FZ dated December 30, 2009 "Technical Regulations on the Safety of Buildings and Structures"
[7] Instruction on the Procedure for Monitoring the Safety of Hydraulic Structures of Enterprises and Organizations Supervised by the Gosgortekhnadzor of Russia, approved by Decree of the Gosgortekhnadzor of Russia No. 2 dated January 12, 1998 (repealed).
[8] Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1086 dated July 22, 2020 "On the Recognition of Certain Acts and Individual Provisions of Certain Acts of the Government of the Russian Federation as Having Lost Force...".